Inspired to be Confident. Be whoever you are extremely loud. And be fearless when you do it. -Gerard

Transcription

1 Arielle Hobbs Inspired to be Confident Be whoever you are extremely loud. And be fearless when you do it. -Gerard Way. I used to think that I would never be happy with who I am. Even worse, I thought I would never have the confidence to be who I wanted to be. However, that was quite a few years ago and I can now say that I am unashamedly myself and I could not be happier. I owe so much of this to my inspiration, Gerard Way. Gerard is a singer, a songwriter, a comic book writer, and someone who has given me the opportunity to be who I want to be. Four years ago, you would have seen an insecure and unhappy girl who was to scared too stand up for herself. My mom was constantly in the hospital and the people who were supposed to be my friends made me feel worthless. One of them would get mad at me for something as simple as not being able to paint her nails the way she wanted. She made me feel as though I could not do anything right. I felt as though there were constantly eyes on me, just waiting for me to inevitability mess up yet again. I did not dare leave that group of friends though, because then I would have been alone, something that scared me more than anything else. Feeling insecure only got worse after my mom died. Suddenly my mom and my best friend, was gone, and I felt as though all the warmth had been sucked from my life. I was very resentful towards my mom because I felt like she had abandoned me, and towards my friends who treated me horribly. What I really wanted was to have a fresh start.

2 Then I got exactly what I needed most, I got to start over. I got to go to a new school and make new friends. A second chance was like a deep breath of fresh air after only being able to take quick and shallow breaths for years. So I did exactly that, I made new friends that actually cared about me. Then I discovered a band called My Chemical Romance and from the band, Gerard Way. Listening to their music was and is extremely therapeutic for me. Lyrics like I am not afraid to keep on living. I am not afraid to walk this world alone, helped me become less insecure. I was gaining confidence already because I was given a new start, but the moment I started to listen to My Chemical Romance my confidence tripled. The lyrics that Gerard Way wrote make me feel inspired, like I could do something as mundane as actually clean my room for once, or something as powerful as take over the world. I was starting to realize that is is my life and I should live life however I want to. Gerard Way quickly became my inspiration because I felt as though I had things in common with him. When he was my age he was that weird kid that got bullied and did not have many friends. I was also that kid, the one that no one really liked. That made me feel as though I had a connection with him. He had severe depression, he was suicidal, and became an alcoholic. He got help and got clean in seventeen days. To me, the fact that he accepted help and got clean in just seventeen days is inspiring in itself. He managed to overcome all of those obstacles and went on to create amazing songs and comic books. Whenever I start to feel like I am worthless, I just think to myself, Gerard Way probably felt exactly how you do right now, but he overcame those

3 thoughts and you can too. Even though he had such a rough past, he is still a kind and amazing person, which inspires me to be the best person I can be.

4 Hobbs 3 Gerard Way talks about topics that most other people do their best to avoid. He acknowledges that depression does exist and that people do self harm, No kid should ever feel like they deserve the cuts on their wrist. So many celebrities do not even acknowledge topics like self harm. Not only that but he talks about how the media will make you feel bad about your body, Don't ever let the media tell you what your body is supposed to look like. You're beautiful just the way you are. Keep it ugly. To me it feels like celebrities try to avoid those topics because they can be controversial. However, Gerard Way just straight up says what he means and that inspires me to be that genuine. He seems so incredibly genuine in the way that he expresses his thoughts, which is extremely refreshing and inspiring to me. Because of Gerard Way I have become so much more confident and happy. He has inspired me in so many ways. I am not afraid to stand up for myself now and my confidence levels have rocketed since listening to his lyrics and his story. To name a few ways he has inspired me to be more confident, I have become the person I want to be, I do not get self conscious around new people, and I say what I want to say.

5 Gerard Way has inspired me to live life to the fullest and to be who I am without any apologies.